Remember how we said the Woody Allen/Dylan Farrow story wasn’t “going anywhere anytime soon”? It’s not. Last week, Bob Weide, a former Curb Your Enthusiasm director and the director/producer of PBS’ Woody Allen: A Documentary, wrote an article for the Daily Beast about the allegations aimed at Allen, and how we shouldn’t be so quick to think of him as History’s Greatest Monster. Totally fair point, but one that was list in Weide’s glib tone, and he often (and uncomfortably) seemed to resort to victim-blaming.

I’ve already said this, but it bears repeating: I know Dylan/Malone believes these events took place, and I know Ronan believes so too. I am not in a position to say they didn’t, any more than all the people on the internet calling for Woody’s head can say they did. The point is that accusations make headlines; retractions are buried on page twelve, and coerced accusations are as much a reality as coerced confessions. Since Woody literally pays no mind to this stuff, and he continues to work and have a happy home life, I would never suggest he’s a victim in this case. The real victim has always been Malone. For me, however, the real questions are: who’s doing the victimizing, and does pain really heal better in the public spotlight? I don’t pretend to have answers for either question. (Via)

If Dylan is fibbing, as Weide implies, why would she bring this ALL up again? That’s what I found most interesting about her letter: either she’s been telling herself a lie for so long that it actually feels real to her, an unlikely scenario, or something terrible really did happen on August 4, 1992, and she wants the public to be aware of the Woody Allen she knows, not the Woody Allen that wasn’t brought to court. Maybe Weide’s point would have been taken more seriously if he had changed his Twitter header photo.

Yes because everything can be solved by violence. *rolls eyes* I bet you couldn’t beat up anybody. It would be funny if you did beat him up and it turned out he didn’t do it. Bet you would feel pretty stupid.

I was with him until that second-to-last sentence. If it were possible for Dylan’s wound to heal in private, it would’ve happened within the 30 (?) years since the trauma occurred. She clearly needs more than that.

I never said “of course he is guilty”; I’m mainly pointing out the stupidity of the “I know him so therefore he couldn’t have done this” logical fallacy. He’s claustrophobic so case fucking closed? A small child had trouble with story consistency so case fucking closed? Seriously? If I was a victim of such abuse and saw my case dismissively waking motioned by “people on this blog”, I don’t know if I’d be furious or depressed that this kind of shit is so easy to get away with.

I don’t know what happened (I can’t stress that enough), but it takes a seriously mentally ill person to come up with what Dylan Farrow described in detail what happened to her and the psychological toll it took on her since (cutting herself and whatnot). I read HER article and I read Bob’s…I’m not basing my opinion on anything Uproxx wrote.

There’s a world of difference between believing something which, by its very nature, can’t be proven true or false (at least not outside of personal experience), and believing something demonstrably not true, something that you knew at one point didn’t actually happen.

You have 2 competing ideas here. On one hand there have been numerous cases of young children being coached to say that someone molested them when nothing of the sort ever took place. And in some of the cases it was total nonsense driven by adults with agendas. Certainly when Farrow’s relationship with ALlen ended she could not have been happy. .And on the other, Woody Allen and his sexual history is beyond odd and bordering on pedophilia. You can dismiss his marriage to Soon Yi Previn as no big deal. But a 50 something Hollywood director finding love with his ex’s 19 year old adopted daughter is really out there.

What is clear is that whether Dylan was coached to say these things by Mia Farrow or not, she and her brother now believe this happened.

Further, Allen in especially “Crimes and Misdemeanors” has stated his belief that there is no real morality beyond what he wants to do. And if you’re a respected and celebrated director there really are no limits. This fawning article may do his reputation more harm than good. Those defending him have more to gain from him than if they considered Dylan’s allegations.

Molesters feed on people doubting the victim and go to great measure to foment that doubt. Want proof? Here’s an email exchange between me and the guy who molested me when I was a kid. [flackops.blogspot.com]